


Light it up

by inanhourofdreaming



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016), X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 06:44:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17699552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inanhourofdreaming/pseuds/inanhourofdreaming
Summary: Wherein Mac has Alex Summer's powers but he still learns to blow things up the regular way.





	Light it up

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't the story I thought I was writing today but it's the one I got.

Mac had always been good at blowing things up. Unfortunately for him, at least half of those times had been accidents. The other half had been part scientific curiosity, and part his own attempts to understand exactly  _ how  _ it was possible for him to somehow produce explosive red energy from his torso. 

The first time he’d blown something up unintentionally, he’d been ten, and his father had just left. This provided the joint problem of him both having to explain to his grandfather why his tree house had just blown up, and not being able to ask his father if this was something he should have expected as part of puberty. It hadn’t been in any of pamphlets his school had handed out to red-faced children, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

His grandfather, once he’d understood, had confirmed for Mac that no, generally speaking explosions didn’t occur simultaneously with growth spurts and cracking voices and that no, his father wasn’t coming back, nor had he ever been able to shoot red lasers from anywhere on his person. His grandfather would have noticed something like that, and as far as he knew Mac was the only one in their family with that dubious skill. He’d given him a Swiss Army knife and kept him out of school for about a month so they could figure out how it happened.

Mac got a handle on it, at least in the sense that he could tell when there was energy building up and how to intentionally exorcise it. As he got older, he gained more and more control. When he and Bozer destroyed the football field their senior year of high school, it had just been with regular, if innovative, explosives. It had gotten him a two-week suspension and an interview at MIT. There were, apparently, places where a too-bright kid could blow things up and call it science.

He kept what he could do a secret. Sure, there was talk about a population of mutants living amongst them. Rumors of a girl who could change the weather, or a man who could run faster than the eye could see. But they were just that — rumors — and not enough for a guy like Mac to depend on. He’d never been able to actually  _ find  _ anyone else who could do something like he could. So he got through four years at MIT, and another four years getting his doctorate with a dissertation specializing in propulsion dynamics, which was just a fancy way of saying he figured out the part of the rockets that blew them into space.

It was at a tech conference where Mac was considering interviews with some of the top aerodynamics firms that he met Matty.

“You don’t want any of those jobs,” he heard a firm, female voice say, and turned sideways before looking down at the very short, dark haired woman who had just spoken to him.

“Excuse me?” He said.

“You don’t want any of those jobs, Mac,” she said. “You won’t be able to blow things up there. Not the regular way  _ or  _ the other way.”

Mac flinched before letting his face go blank.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” He said, alarmed.

“You don’t. Not yet. I’m Matty Webber,” she said, holding a hand out for him to shake. He did so cautiously. “And Mac...I’m like you.”

“I don’t know what you’re…” he started to say.

“Yes, you do,” said Matty, except  _ her lips weren’t moving. _ “I’m like you. And I could use someone like you at my school and on my team.”

Mac was struck speechless for a moment, but his brain kicked in a moment later. Even in the midst of life-changing shock, he couldn’t really stop thinking. 

“How does that  _ work _ ?” He said, his mind immediately spinning through everything he knew about brainwaves and communication systems rapidly and coming up blank.

Matty smiled at him and said aloud, “What you can do...naturally, is amazing Mac, and absolutely worth exploring. But it’s what you’re doing right now that makes you so valuable. You’re curious, and you want to figure things out. I don’t even sense any fear or revulsion which, let me tell you, is pretty rare once people figure out I can get inside your head.”

And Mac, who had been smart and curious all his life, but who had also mostly been  _ alone _ , remembered the second part of Matty’s pitch.

“Wait,” he said. “You said  _ team _ .”

And Matty smiled, and said “Let me tell you about them,” and the next day Mac packed his bags and devastated every professor he’d ever had by taking a teaching position at a school no one had ever heard of somewhere on the West coast. 

 

 

The first person he met at the Webber school was Riley. She was noticeably attractive, the kind of head-turningly beautiful that Mac knew would have driven most of the guys he’d known at MIT crazy — particularly because she was completely surrounded by tech, all of which seemed to be spinning with numbers and data.

“Hey, new guy,” she said. 

“Hey,” he said back. “Nice setup you’ve got here.”

“Tech’s my power,” she shrugged, spinning her chair around to look at him. “I can control it, tell it what to do. Pretty much anything.”

“How’d Matty find you?” Mac asked.

Riley grinned. “Pulled me out of prison, if you can believe that.”

Mac’s eyebrows shot up. “Prison?”

“Yup,” she said. “Bad luck. I was cracking into a system I shouldn’t have been in and I got caught. Not this way,” she gestured at the modems. “Literally, a guy walked in and I was the only one physically there. I can do a  _ lot  _ of damage with tech, but I’ve never wanted to hurt anybody so.” She shrugged. “Anyway, Matty got me out after like a week.”

“Got it,” Mac said. “So how’d she know what you could do?”

“Ah, well  _ that _ ,” she said decisively, “would be my almost step-dad, Jack.”

Mac was about to ask how this Jack would have known Matty when a warm voice with a strong Texan accent sounded from behind him “Now, I do believe my ears are burning. Riley, boo, are you talkin’ about me again? You know you can only talk about me so much before other people get jealous.”

Mac turned and saw an attractive man, probably well into his 30s and in very good shape, saunter in. Maybe Riley wasn’t exactly the type to turn his head but this guy? Hit pretty much every one of Mac’s buttons.

“Piss off, Jack,” Riley said, rolling her eyes, but still very obviously affectionate.

“And who might this be?” Jack smiled at him.

“Uh,” Mac stuttered for a moment before pulling himself together. “I’m Mac.” He held a hand out, which Jack took immediately and firmly, eyeing him up and down. Mac hoped he wasn’t visibly flushing, but based on the way Riley seemed to be holding back a laugh, he figured he wasn’t being particularly successful. “I, um, blow things up.”

“Hey,” Jack said, grinning. “Me, too, what a coincidence!”

“You do?” Mac said, shocked.

“Oh, don’t be fooled,” Riley said. “Jack doesn’t actually have any powers. He just likes explosives. He met Matty when they were both in the CIA.”

“Ah,” Mac said. “Well, actually, I blow things up the regular way, too. I got my doctorate in aerospace engineering, propulsion, which is pretty much the fancy way of saying I like to figure out the best ways to blow things up in a particular direction.”

“Well, alright then, Smarty Pants,” Jack said. “I think you and me will get along just fine.”

“Yeah, I uh, I hope so,” Mac said and smiled, meeting his eyes. 

“Uh, huh,” Jack said, and kept shaking his hand, eyes darting around Mac’s face. Down to his lips and back up.

“Uh, guys?” Riley said. “You can probably like...let go now.”

They did, pretty immediately, though Jack chuckled.

“Well, then,” Jack said. “I’m gonna go check in on Matty, see what else is up. It’s good to meet you, Mac. Riley, stay out of trouble,” he pointed at her, teasing, and then spun out the door whistling.

“You want to bang my step-dad,” Riley said accusingly right after Jack walked out the door.

“What?” Mac said. “I mean, I’m not. I don’t know…”

“Uh-uh, buddy,” Riley said. “You think I don’t know that look? I know that look. That is a ‘take me please’ look. That you made. At. My. STEP-DAD.”

“I thought he was your almost step-dad,” Mac said, instead of responding. His red face probably wasn’t doing him any favors, though. 

Riley glared. “Not the point.”

“Well, he’s...charming?” Mac said reluctantly. “Is he, uh…”

Riley smirked. “Interested in that sort of thing? I mean, based on the way he was looking at you, I’d say yeah, Mac.”

Mac smiled, sweet and happy, unable to stop himself, and Riley melted a bit. 

“Alright fine,” she said. “Sleep with my step-dad. What do I care?”

“I think it’s probably a little early to consider it a done deal, Riley,” Mac said, but he couldn’t quite keep the hopeful look off his face.

“Yeah, yeah,” Riley waved off the topic. “I’d say it  _ really  _ isn’t, considering how long it’s been for him but…”

“Ok, then,” Mac cut her off. “So you’ve got to tell me, how does this work?” He gestured to her computers. 

Riley spent a good 30 minutes trying to explain what it felt like to communicate directly with machines, with Mac asking question after question. Riley seemed thrilled to have someone who really understood the hardware of her tech, if not the software. By the time they picked up to head for dinner, Mac thought moving here had been the best decision he’d ever made. 

  
  


 

Dinner at the Webber school was a family affair. During the summer it was just a few adults, all of whom lived at the mansion Matty’s family had owned for generations. During the school year they had students, mostly ages 8 to 18, though in a rare instance Matty said they’d take someone younger. Mainly, though, anyone with powers was welcome. Mac found out that the summer was usually just Matty, Jack, and Riley, though there were other teachers who’d return in the fall or drop in for a few weeks here or there. They’d take select jobs together, usually security related and tailored to their various skills, and spend the rest of the time looking for kids who might need their help.

“How do you find them?” Mac asked.

“Matty here brain whammies them, usually,” Jack said, gesturing towards her with his fork and grinning at Mac. Matty throws a pea at him.

“I don’t  _ whammie _ them,” she clarified. “If they’re within a certain distance from me, I can hear their thoughts. That’s the most sure-fire way. Riley keeps track of abnormal events, and when we see something that seems out of the ordinary, we go check it out. It’s piecemeal, and we certainly don’t catch everyone, but it’s a start.”

Mac squinted, thinking. “What’s your range?” He asked. “How close do you have to be?”

“I’m pretty powerful, but no more than a mile,” she said.

“What if we could make that bigger?” Mac asked, his thoughts spinning. Matty looked at him and he got the feeling she was listening in to his thoughts.

“Is that really possible?” She asked, surprised. “I’m hearing you thinking about it but honestly, I can’t follow the science.” 

“I think it might be,” Mac said. “Brain waves, connecting synapses, they’re all still concrete events. And we may not know exactly  _ how  _ one connection creates another, but we can still mimic and broadcast them. If I could get Riley’s help with the software part...yeah, I think maybe we could do it.”

Riley shrugged and said, “sure, I’m game if you are.”

“So you’re saying you’re going to what, build a router for Matty’s mind?” Jack said.

“That’s actually not a bad analogy,” Mac said, meeting his eyes. Jack grinned at him and waggled his eyebrows.

“Jack, I’m honestly shocked you know what a router  _ is, _ ” Riley said. 

“Hey,” Jack said, “Don’t you give me attitude, girly. I may not be a super powered computer nerd but I do know a thing or two.”

“Sure, Jack,” Riley said, rolling her eyes. 

“No respect, Mac,” Jack said. “I tell you I get no respect from this girl.”

Mac laughed, but couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer affection they seemed to feel for each other, and how easily they’d brought him in. Mac’s best and longest friend had been Bozer, and mostly because Bozer had forcefully befriended him and then never looked back. He’d never made friends easily, not beyond the most shallow bits. He’d never been able to trust anyone with the knowledge of who he was and what he could do and suddenly here he was, in a place where all of that was just fine. Matty looked at him and smiled, like she knew just what he was thinking. Hell, she probably did. As the Riley and Jack continued squabbling, he heard her voice in his head saying  _ it’s alright, Mac, you’re home.  _

  
  
  


Mac got into the habit of jogging in the mornings again. It was something he’d been doing for years, a way to burn off energy that he’d otherwise have to expel in more destructive ways. The mansion had a bunker where Matty had said he could blow things up to his heart’s content, but he still felt better after running. 

He ran into Jack a few mornings after he’d arrived, just as he was getting ready to head out. 

“You headin’ out for a jog, hoss?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Mac said. 

“Gimme a sec, I’ll join you,” Jack said and swept out of the room, leaving Mac standing awkwardly by the door. 

Jack returned a few minutes later in a pair of basketball shorts and a shirt that emphasized the broadness of his shoulders. Mac knew he was conventionally attractive -- that his blonde hair and blue eyes and level of fitness meant that people would hit on him. But he also knew that he had a tendency towards the pedantic and an obsession with science and engineering that most people found a bit, well. Annoying. And that was leaving out the fact that he could potentially blow up his partner, a danger they couldn’t properly consent to. 

All that to say, spending time with a guy that he found almost alarmingly attractive and who knew what he could do, all of it, and wanted to spend time with him anyway? Mac was very, very ok with that.

He took a moment to examine Jack. Jack’s face wasn’t perfect so much as it was  _ interesting.  _ Mac loved machines, it was true, but more than that he loved fitting pieces together that didn’t necessarily naturally belong together and making them into something that worked. Jack’s features were kind of like that -- they only really worked all together, but damn did they work. 

Mac realized he’d zoned out a bit staring at Jack when he realized Jack was grinning at him, eyebrows raised, like maybe he’d been waiting for Mac to come to. He cleared his throat and gave an embarrassed half-smile.

“Ready?” Jack said.

“Yeah,” Mac said, and off they went.

  
  
  


Jack starting joining him every morning, waiting in the kitchen for Mac to come downstairs ready to go. 

He started finding Mac other places, too -- when Mac was grabbing a snack from the kitchen, or hovering close as Mac worked on plans for Matty’s machine.

“So when am I gonna get to see?” Jack said, nudging Mac with his hip from where he was looking over Mac’s shoulder at his drawings.

“See what?” Mac said.

“Man, you know,” Jack said. “When are you gonna explode somethin’?”

Mac’s mouth hung open for a moment in surprise before he promptly shut it, sure he looked like an idiot.

“Oh, uh,” Mac said. “I’ve actually. I mean, other than my grandfather I’ve never actually done it in front of anyone else before.”

Jack put hands on both Mac’s shoulders and shook him excitedly.

  
“Well, come  _ on _ , man. Now’s as good a time as any, let’s  _ go, _ ” he said, and dragged Mac to his feet and towards the bunker before Mac had a moment to process what was happening.

He came around by the time they got there and Jack was shoving him through the door. There were already a bunch of targets all throughout the bunker, many of them with some bullet holes, so Mac assumed this was where Jack trained, as well. 

“Come on, come on,” Jack said and Mac laughed, pushing him away.

“Ok, alright, just,” he said. “Gimme a minute to think.”

“No way, man,” Jack said. “You think, you might change your mind. Do first, think later.”

Mac laughed again. “I’m not gonna change my mind, Jack, just. The explosion can be kind of big, I have to figure out where to aim.”

Jack gestured towards the far end of the bunker, where a mannequin was standing. “Hit that.”

Mac looked over at the mannequin and back at Jack’s eager face.

“Yeah, alright, ok,” he said. “Just, uh, step back a little, ok? It’s not always that precise.”

Jack stepped back, probably not quite as far as he should, but if Jack liked explosions and Mac could provide well, then, who was he to push him away?

“Right,” Mac said to himself. He centered and then spun, feeling the crackling red energy spinning around him like a hula hoop before he released it with a snap. The mannequin went up in flames, sliced in two and burning madly. Mac laughed euphorically, caught up a bit in the high that always followed the release. He spun to look at Jack, his face lit up with it. 

Jack was staring at him like something  _ hungry  _ and before Mac knew it, Jack was right in front of him, his eyes dark and fierce.

“Mac,” he said, voice so low it was practically a growl. “I’m gonna kiss you now unless you got a problem with that.” Mac felt flushed again, but this time with want, and kissed Jack first.

Jack grabbed onto him fiercely, pulling him close. Mac moaned into his mouth when their hips made contact.

“Jesus, Mac,” Jack said into his mouth. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever  _ seen. _ ” Mac wanted to make a joke about how it probably literally  _ was _ the hottest thing he’d ever seen, but it passed right out of his mind again when Jack pushed him up against the wall, mouth slipping to lick and bite his way down Mac’s neck as he ground their hips together, which was probably for the best.

“Fuck,” Mac breathed, pulling Jack in as close as he could get him.

“I gotta get my mouth on you,” Jack was grumbling to himself, pulling his hips back to unzip Mac’s pants and pull them down. He dropped to his knees in one fast motion and Mac could hardly  _ breath,  _ couldn’t  _ think _ for once, could only focus on the floating high of a release that was swiftly coming on. Mac thought that Riley must have been totally wrong, that surely Jack’s superpower was his  _ mouth _ . His head hit the wall behind him but he didn’t feel it, groaning and saying Jack’s name over and over, one hand slipping down to cradle the short, soft strands of Jack’s hair. Jack hummed in response and that was it, Mac was  _ done. _

He came, legs going boneless, and Jack held him through it. He was up like a shot before Mac had really come back to himself at all, jacking himself off and kissing Mac breathlessly wherever he could get to. Mac got with the program fast enough then, knocking Jack’s hand away and taking over, pulling Jack in to kiss him properly until he couldn’t anymore. Until Jack was panting against his mouth and coming with a groan. 

They stood there and breathed together, Jack dropping absent minded kisses Mac returned. Mac dropped his head onto Jack’s shoulder and let his breath slowly even out again.

“Oh, we are definitely doin’ that again,” Jack said. “All the time. Every day. Mac, we live in this bunker now, it’s gonna be blow-ups and blow jobs  _ forever.” _

Mac laughed against Jack’s shoulder. “Ok, Jack. But at some point we’re gonna need a bed.”

“Good point, Mac,” Jack said. “Knew you were a genius.”

 

When they went upstairs later for dinner, Riley gave Mac a dirty smirk and Matty looked like she knew exactly what they were doing and Jack couldn’t stop grinning happily at him, Mac thought maybe Matty was right and he was home after all.


End file.
